Poem Of The Month: October 2015

For October's Poem of the Month, I have chosen the poem 'The Enemy' by Peter O’Neill.

It is taken from his collection The Enemy ( transversions from Charles Baudelaire).

It is taken from a larger sequence entitled 'Ideal and Spleen'.

X The Enemy

My youth was but a darkened storm,

Lit up, briefly, by brilliant suns;

The atrocious weather, growing up in a bog-

As I did, didn’t exactly help matters much!

Now, I’ve reached the Autumn of my years,

And, of course, one becomes reflective –

You go over in your mind, at times,

The old ground, and… which has its graves.

Who knows really what will become of one.

The obscure element which constantly eludes,

And which has driven me like a beast, does it still reign?

Jesus! But time eats into your life,

And the accompanying enemy which weathers the heart,

Quickens and enflames the blood, and becomes fortified.

Old Wooden Pillar by George Hodan

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